Designing A Room Around A Mirror

A unique, and elegant mirror can transform any space by reflecting light around a room and make rooms look bigger. They can set the theme of rooms making them a focal point or using them to enhance whatever living space it’s placed into.

Choosing The Right Mirror

-Size

First, we have to choose a mirror that’s the right size for the room. Large mirrors are advantageous for two reasons. Firstly, they make the room look bigger.

After all, when you look into a mirror, you’re effectively perceiving another, identical mirror on ‘the other side’ of the glass – so strong is this impression, in fact, that it’s been a popular idea in fiction ever since Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There’. Secondly, they reflect more light, and therefore make the room brighter.

But larger mirrors can also have negative effects – particular if they’re placed in small rooms. They can dominate the space, drawing the attention of anyone who steps into the room. Unless you want every guest to comment on the impressive size of your mirror, then it’s better to plump for something a little more reserved.

-Shape

Mirrors also come in a variety of different shapes. Tall, thin ones are great for performing quick whole-body inspections, while longer ones are great for creating the illusion of width to a wall space. Alternatively, you might consider the raft of uniquely-shaped mirrors, which serve decorative purposes.

All of the usual rules of interior design apply – you’ll want shapes which complement the shapes of other items in the room. So, if all your furniture is sharp and angular, you might elect for a sharp and angular mirror. If your room is full of rounded edges, on the other hand, then circles might be a better bet.

Placing Your Mirror

-Filling Gaps

Like all wall-hanging objects, a mirror can be used to either draw attention to a focal point in your room, or to deflect attention away from it. If there are any conspicuous spaces of blank wall, then you’ll want to fill it with an appropriately-shaped mirror. Note that you don’t have to completely fill the space – just put something there to break it up.

-Creating Focus

If your mirror is to serve as a focal point for your room, then you’ll need to place it accordingly. This is especially so in rooms which lack a natural focal piece of furniture, like a fireplace or a mantelpiece (or indeed a television) to draw the eye.

A mirror can serve just this purpose – or even slot in alongside an existing focal point in order to complement it, rather than distracting from it. For example, you might place your mirror over the top of your fireplace – that way, when attention is drawn to one, it will also be drawn to the other.

-Dispersing Light

One of the great things about a mirror is that they can disperse light around a room – softening those harsh shadows. In order to allow your mirror to perform this role, you’ll need to ensure that it isn’t surrounded by furniture – which will block those reflected beams of light, and create undesirable shadows.

At night time, when there isn’t any natural light, a mirror can also play this role. Be sure to place a lamp nearby, so that its effect can be magnified.

-Mimicking Windows

A mirror, as we’ve seen, looks essentially like a window into another room. So why not draw attention to this illusion by framing your mirror as though it’s a window. You might frame it with shutters, to create the complete effect.

You might even do this on the outside of your property rather than the interior – if you’ve an outdoor seating area that’s in need of some more illumination, then a window-shaped mirror might be just the thing to brighten things up.

-Symmetry

As well as having single mirrors, you might have a few of them placed in a symmetrical arrangement. If your room already has a symmetrical layout, then this might help to exaggerate that layout. On the other hand, you might want to go for something slightly asymmetrical in order to achieve a different effect.

For example, having a mirror on one side of the room that’s slightly larger than one on the other side can yield interesting results. Be sure to play around and explore the possibilities.

Now that you know the basics you’re ready to get started. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be on the fast track to success!

If you are looking for a unique, handmade mirror then this beautiful carved and hand painted mirror from Ian Snow would be a beautiful starting point to design your room around.